Wagner College assistant coach Maureen Hannafin, a career 1,000-point scorer, a member of the Seahawks’ only Northeast Conference championship team, and self-admitted basketball junkie, was "articulating" the other day about this 2011 generation.

"Nowadays," said Moe, sounding much like a seasoned vet who spent 17 seasons as head coach at Notre Dame Academy before joining the Wagner staff in 2006, "you don’t see the players giving it that extra. You have to prod and push. You don’t see them out on their own doing the extra work, doing it what it takes to be special. How many are left?"

And then Hannafin turned her head, saw Megan Mahoney, and served up her 200-watt smile.

Yes, there’s at least one.

Hannafin laughs when asked if Mahoney, who scored her 1,000th college point Monday night, is her carbon copy, an updated version of the long-haired, knee-padded, hyperactive 2-guard who would run through walls if asked.

"Oh, no," Moe says, deadpan. "I’m blond."

Certainly different in looks and how each channels her emotion, but both need competition the way others need oxygen. Their slashing, devil-may-care attitude, their scoring mentality, and their ability to do the little things which don’t show in box scores are talking points.

Though they might not be clones, they have a long relationship. Hannafin was Mahoney’s third-grade teacher at Sacred Heart. It took a little time for Mahoney to find her niche there.

"My sister (Jackie) was a cheerleader (now the NDA cheer coach)," said Mahoney, "but I had no rhythm. I couldn’t stomp and clap."

With an aunt (Barbara Reali) a trailblazing star at St. Peter’s HS, she gravitated toward hoops. Not making her CYO Gidget A team and, later the AAU Staten Island Rebels, may have been the key to her transformation to an insatiable gym rat.

Her mom Trish pushed her outside where she grew up in the old playground pick-up style at Walker Park, PS 45, Clove Lakes, or wherever there was a game going on. She knew she had turned the corner when she was picked before the boys.

It got to the point on New Year's s Eve where Megan, at 11:50, would call her dad John (who then had the keys to SP's New Brighton gym) and ask him to open the court because she wanted to be the first person -- maybe in our time zone -- to be shooting hoops in the new year.

Much to the chagrin of then-NDA coach Hannafin, Mahoney followed other Sacred Heart grads Nicky Anosike (Moe was her confirmation sponsor), Courtney Barton and a parade of others to Bob Daggett and St. Peter’s, a stone’s throw from the Mahoney’s West Brighton home.

In a blink of an eye, Mahoney had three storied seasons, including Jaques Awards in her junior and senior years. She wanted to go away and there was a family hook at Fordham, where she was the Atlantic-10 freshman of the year and the team’s leading (15.4 ppg) scorer. But things soured in her sophomore season, she took her 498 points and left the Ram program after six games.

"Megan committed to Fordham after her junior year, a year before I got here," said Hannafin. "If I had had the chance, I would have been at her door with a sledgehammer to get her for Wagner."

Ironically, it was Mahoney who approached Wagner.

"You never know how you’re going to be received," admitted the elementary education major, "but I stepped into open arms. I’ve gotten a D-I experience and living here (in the dorms) is like not like living on Staten Island. I’m very happy."

So are the Seahawks who used Mahoney’s second-semester skills — she had to sit out the customary year after transferring from Fordham — to make last year’s NEC playoffs and are currently battling for postseason life in an injury-plagued season.

"I’d trade my 1,000 points — 1,004 heading into tomorrow’s game at Central Connecticut — to get to the NEC playoffs," says the Seahawk co-captain, whose aggressive game has been muted at times while she plays the point, having taken over for Stephanie McBride, who has missed 15 of 19 games with various injuries.

"Whatever it takes for us to win, I’ll do it. I’m getting a better understanding of how to play the point; it’s making me a well-rounded player."

"You don’t have to motivate someone like Megan," Hannafin says with a remembering grin. "It takes pressure off you as a coach that you never yell at her for effort. She’s come so far because she cares."

"Moe and Megan are crazy similar," says Wagner head coach Gela Mikalauskas, who coached both. "They’re emotional players; both have the winning edge; they’re willing to die out there; winning is all that matters."

"I know I'm going to be a basket case on Senior Night," admits Hannafin. "It's going to be very sad for me to see two local (teammate Ashley Olsen of rival NDA who is just 101 points away from the magic 1,000) girls play their last home game. It'll be special; what both have done for Wagner basketball; the fondness I have in my heart for both of them."